An Israeli glass manufacturing company selects rural Emporia-Greensville, Va., for its first U.S. manufacturing plant.

Virginia and Tel Aviv may seem worlds apart, but plans for a new glass processing plant stateside offer a bridge between the rural American South and Israel.

Israel’s Oran Safety Glass (OSG) is investing $4.1 million in Greensville County, Va., to build a new glass processing facility. The announcement marked the first U.S. facility for OSG, Israel’s leading flat and curved glass processor. The plant will hire 50 workers to manufacture bulletproof glass for U.S. military vehicles. The products are sold primarily to Department of Defense contractors supplying the Israeli Defense Forces, the U.S. Army and Marine forces, and to various European customers. In fact, OSG has been supplying the U.S. military market for the past 20 years.

“The addition of a new international company in Virginia is cause for celebration,” Gov. Tim Kaine said at the time of the announcement. “It is even more noteworthy that Oran Safety Glass opens its first American facility to manufacture a product that will protect our men and women serving in the United States military. I look forward to OSG’s success, and to building further economic ties between Israel and Virginia.”

OSG selected the Emporia-Greensville area, a community that historically has been the commercial hub of Southside Virginia, but not before surveying the landscape. The company evaluated a number of locations, including both North Carolina and South Carolina; to house its advanced technology for glass processing in the U.S. OSG narrowed the selection to the 82,000 square-foot Greensville County shell building and a competing site in North Carolina, ultimately choosing Virginia.

Though rural, Greensville County offers OSG a strategic position midway along the route from New York to Florida at crossroads of Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 58. Indeed, Emporia-Greensville County is fast becoming a commerce and industry center to be reckoned with in the South.

OSG officials cited the Emporia-Greensville area’s labor force as one reason for its location decision. More than 18,000 people call the area home. It draws labor from a much larger region, tapping into a potential employee base of more than 950,000 within a 60-mile radius. Major employers in the area include Boar’s Head Provisions, Georgia Pacific, Beach Mold & Tool, Grayson Mitchell and Belding Hausman.
 
“The Virginia location serves OSG well, as it is close to our marketing office in Bethesda, Md.,” says Gabi Magen, CEO of Oran Safety Glass. “The Virginia Economic Development folks, as well as the Emporia-Greensville Industrial Development Corp. and Greensville County, worked diligently with us. They showed us the quality of their workforce and made us feel welcome in their community. We look forward to starting production as soon as possible to deliver products that will protect U.S. troops that are in harms way.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Greensville County, the Emporia-Greensville Industrial Development Corp., the Greensville County Industrial Development Authority, and the Virginia Israel Advisory Board to secure the project.

“We couldn’t have done it without the assistance of the Virginia Tobacco Commission and Gov. Kaine. Without a team effort, the location of OSG in Greensville County would not have been possible,” says Peggy R. Wiley, Greensville County Board of Supervisors chairwoman.  “OSG brings many jobs to an area of Southside Virginia that has high unemployment.  The location of OSG will further diversify our economy, making it stronger.  We look forward to being part of OSG’s future, and we’re anxious to demonstrate to company leaders that they have made the best location decision.”

Kaine approved a $125,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to assist Greensville County with the project. The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission approved $125,000 in Tobacco Region Opportunity Funds. OSG also is eligible to receive state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, because it is locating in a Virginia Enterprise Zone. The project also received financing assistance from the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority.

Kobi Rasner, an Israeli consultant specializing in plant construction, location analysis, and mergers and acquisitions for small- to mid-sized companies, recommended Virginia over sites in other states because, “the site was optimal, state and local officials were very nice and eager, and we were offered a good incentive package for a small company.”

The Virginia Department of Business Assistance also will support the project with training assistance through its Workforce Services Jobs Investment Program. Christie Miller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, says the state is aggressive in reaching out to companies and matching them up with the regions that have the resources and benefits to best suit those companies.

“We are finding that many times companies don’t need to be in large metropolitan areas to do business. Often, it benefits the company to move to an area where the business costs are lower, and it’s a benefit to rural Virginia because it brings employment to areas where we really need it,” Miller says. “Our incentives are flexible enough to accommodate many different types of companies in many different areas of the state.”

OSG is one of many wins for rural Emporia-Greensville region in recent years. Others include Toll Integrated Systems, a division of Toll Brothers Inc., which recently completed a new 86,000 square-foot warehouse and distribution facility in the Greensville County Industrial Park.  The Good Earth Peanut Co. announced it will construct a new 3,000 square-foot warehouse and Franklin Braid Manufacturing Co. has expanded in Greensville County. Many new hotels and restaurants also are beginning to spring up in the area. 

The Emporia-Greensville region of Virginia is an economically diverse rural community with a “can-do” approach to economic development, according to Jack Davenport, director of the Emporia-Greensville Industrial Development Corp. Its strategic location means companies locating there can find the advantages of a hard-working rural workforce and pro-business local officials, while also having access to an expanded workforce of nearly 950,000 and 81,000 manufacturing jobs in a little more than an hour’s drive.

“Our region is fortunate to have an unusually well-diversified economic base, and OSG is a nice complement to existing industry,” Davenport says. “We are a hub for manufacturing of materials that are also sensitive to distribution within the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast markets. Our labor force has the skill sets that OSG requires.”